Board has roots in Jefferson’s vision

Board has roots in Jefferson’s visionLike the University, the Board of Visitors was created by Thomas Jefferson, who served on the board from 1819 to 1826. As Jefferson designed the board, the members would elect their own leader, or rector, and Jefferson himself was the first. James Madison, who succeeded Jefferson as rector, served with him and James Monroe joined the board after Jefferson’s death.

The Board of Visitors was included in Jefferson’s Statute of 1819, which established the University. “It shall be under the government of seven visitors to be appointed forthwith by the governor,” Jefferson wrote.

Among the duties he outlined were “erection, preservation and repair of the buildings,” as well as hiring and firing professors, naming other officers and agents of the University, and regulating tuition and dormitory rent.

As the University expanded, the duties of the chairman of the faculty, who operated the school, were onerous, and in 1904 the Board of Visitors created the post of university president. Dr. Edwin A. Alderman was named to the post, which he held until 1931.

Now the board has 16 members appointed by the governor and one non-voting representative from the student body. It approves the policies and budget of the University, and is entrusted with preserving U.Va.’s many traditions. The board maintains offices in the Rotunda, where it meets four times a year.

For more about the board, visit its Web site at http://www.virginia.edu/bov/